Today I used Peter Golenbock’s Teammates for a lesson on inferencing themes with my 6th graders. I had never read Teammates before this week and I had no idea I was missing out on such a great book!

Teammates is the story of baseball player Jackie Robinson’s friendship with PeeWee Reese, a teammate who risked his career (and possibly his life) to stand up for Jackie when he joined the Dodgers. Golenbock looks at a single moment in American history and turns it into a gorgeous narrative. The story is illustrated in paintings and photographs. The story is powerful and timely- one that every student should hear.

The subject of baseball, Jackie Robinson, and segregation is one that appeals to all of my students, and especially the boys. They were thrilled that we were reading such a “cool” picture book. And it lent itself so well to the lesson I had planned on inferring themes! I highly recommend this one for all ages.

So here is your assignment: Get reading! I have read the book and it is amazing- count on a review in the next few days. However, now I need you to read the book. This is your chance to pick the brain of Kelly Gallagher….when will you get this chance again?

You don’t need to read the entire book. One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 2: Endangered Minds (beginning on page 27). Gallagher presents a flood of information on the dearth of reading material in our schools and the effects on our kids’ reading. Read it, make notes, and come back here to post your questions! Kelly will be here on January 26th and I can’t wait!

Kelly will be participating in a five-stop blog book tour. Each of the following blogs will post either a Q&A with Kelly, or a review of the book, or will give you the opportunity to submit questions to Kelly. So browse the book and then check out all of these blogs in the coming days and discuss this vitally important topic!

Last week I did a quick Newbery unit in my 6th grade class. We reviewed the history of the award, the terms, criteria, and rules. We also read articles about the recent Newbery controversy and discussed them as a class. It was amazing to hear my students’ thoughts on the award and the recent controversy and I think we all learned a lot! But my favorite part was the end of the unit- I had my students write me at least a paragraph explaining whether they thought Chains (our current read-aloud) or The Underneath (which we previously read as a read-aloud) deserved to win a Newbery or Honor on January 26th and why.

I was stunned by the responses I received! Some of my students wrote over a page, expounding the virtues of one or both of the books. They were extremely passionate in their opinions, so I wanted to share a few with my readers.

“I think that The Underneath should win because I like how it tells different problems happening with different characters. If you don’t understand one problem that’s going on you may understand another one. I also liked in The Underneath how at the end all the characters come together. ”

“I think that Chains should win the Newbery because it is a good book with real info and sometimes you think Wow I have it good.”

“I think that both Chains and The Underneath should be honors. The Underneath should not just be in the honors but it should win…It should win because it keeps you thinking and it keeps you reading.”

“I think that Chains will win the Newbery and The Underneath will be recognized as an Honor book. Both books have great writing in them and the authors really did a good job with the character development. In my opinion, Chains is written better, but The Underneath is good, too. I can’t wait until Jan. 26th!”

“I think Chains and The Underneath both have a chance of winning the Newbery. Chains is very interesting and seems like I am actually in the Revolutionary War. I like this book because it is suspenseful and you don’t know what will happen next. I like how bad things keep happening and Isabelle doesn’t give up. The Underneath is a book that I liked but I thought it was hard to understand. ”

“I really believe that Chains should win. I believe there should be a change. Since we now have an African-American president, we should have an African-American book. This books is fantastic because because it has true facts about American history. I feel this book should win over The Underneath because The Underneath is about imaginary things. ”

“I believe The Underneath should win the Newbery Award. I think because it has lessons to teach the reader. It tells the stories about the struggles of life and how to get through it. When the animals in the story get into difficult situations they seem to find a way out. It also shows the sacrifices we will make for friends and family. For example, when the mother cat saves Puck from drowning. ”

“I think The Underneath should win the Newbery Award. I think because it was a great book and made my class so emotional. I saw and heard crying when the calico cat died. I heard rage when Ranger was beaten. I saw happiness when Garface died. But most of all tears of joy for Grandmother helping Ranger, Puck, and Sabine and when they all ran away together as a family.”

“I think The Underneath should win the Newbery- or at least an honor book- for many reasons. One reason she should get the award is because her book is a page turner for children. I am a child and I know I loved the book. ”

Those are just a few of the opinions in my two classes. Between all of my students, the votes are pretty evenly divided between Chains and The Underneath. But every student felt that they both fit the criteria and deserved to at least win an honor on January 26th! I just love how passionate they are about both books and how invested they are in the award ceremony.

Michele left a comment on one of my posts last week and I have been contemplating an answer ever since.

I am in my second year of using Reader’s Workshop so it still feels very new to me. Would you mind speaking about how you help struggling readers in your class? I have found that a few of my students are selecting books that are much too challenging for them just to be reading what the other kids are reading. I try to direct them toward more appropriate material, but they usually abandon what I suggest and head straight back for whatever is hot at the moment.

I am almost at the point of telling a few students that they have to read a book that I select for them. Does that defeat the whole purpose of Reader’s Workshop and choice in their reading materials? Is there something that you have tried or have heard about that you could suggest?

Every year I have a handful of students who choose books that only frustrate them. It’s a difficult situation to deal with, because I do not want to discourage them from reading and I don’t want to stop them from reading about a topic that they enjoy. However, if they can’t comprehend the novel or fluently read it. they may just end up hating the act of reading. So how do I help them?

The answer for me is time. I spend a lot of time with these kids. We talk about what they like, authors they have enjoyed, their favorite topics, etc. I really get to know them as people and as readers. Because I read so many books over the course of a given year, I have a wide variety of texts that I can draw from as recommendations. This is one of the reasons I force myself to read and review books that I might not normally read on my own. I can better serve my students when I have variety of genres and authors to draw on. I also read reviews from blogs and industry magazines like School Library Journal for even more ideas. My media center librarian is my ally in this, too!

It can take weeks to find something that a reluctant and struggling readers can read and wants to read. There will be a lot of abandoned books along the way. In my classroom, the rule is that a student must give a book at least 50 pages before deciding to abandon it. However, I waive that for some of my struggling readers. Depending on the student, I will give them a 20-25 page limit for abandonment. And my kids feel comfortable abandoning books. I share my own experiences with abandoning books that were not “just right” for me, so they know that real readers don’t finish every single book they start. All I ask is that they can give me a reason for abandoning their book. I have heard everything from “I can’t connect to the characters” to “The vocabulary is just too hard”. Because I know my students as readers, I can usually judge how truthful they are being. :)

To put it simply, time is your friend. Make sure you have a lot of books to choose from. And make recommendations. But let your students make the final choice. And when they do find something they enjoy reading, let them! Even if that means they read six books in a row about kids who play baseball. Keep building their confidence- in their ability to read fluently, their ability to comprehend their reading, and the ability to choose their own reading material. Choice in reading material for independent reading is the most important factor in my reading workshop and I firmly believe it is what has made my workshop successful!

I am a huge Laurie Halse Anderson fan. Just ask my kids from last year how often I recommended Fever 1793 to them. I loved Independent Dames: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution when I reviewed it back in May, and I can’t wait to use it when I introduce our women’s history project this year. And I still remember reading Speak for the first time in junior high (and I keep meaning to reread it). As you can imagine, I was thrilled when I heard that Anderson would be publishing a new historical fiction novel this month and even more thrilled when my school librarian tracked down an ARC for me!

In 1776, Isabel is a young slave (about 11?). She and her little sister, Ruth, live in Rhode Island and Isabel dreams of the day they will be free. Their master, Miss Finch, has promised them freedom upon her death, but when the time comes her lawyer has fled the sporadic battles between the Loyalists and Patriots. Miss Finch’s greedy young nephew quickly sells the girls off to a wealthy Loyalist and his cruel wife. Isabel and Ruth are sent to New York City, ophaned, alone, and at the mercy of the cruel Mrs. Lockton.

When they arrive in New York City, Isabel immediately meets a young slave named Curzon, who convinces her that the quickest way to freedom is to spy on her Loyalist master and report to the Patriots.

Ruth is “simple” and Isabel spends much of her time hiding her sister’s episodes from Mrs. Lockton. But when they are discovered, she is thought to be possessed by the devil and Mrs. Lockton immediately sells her off. Thus begins Isabel’s moral struggle- who should she support? More importantly, which side will help her become free and find her sister? She has no particularly strong feelings for the Patriots or the Loyalists- she only wants her own freedom. Sadly, both sides fail to take slaves into account, using them as tools rather than people: messengers, spies, soldiers, cooks, and everything in between.

It’s difficult to do the plot justice in a brief recap. There is so much going on, yet the reader never feels overwhelmed. I found myself putting the book down after a chapter and going back to it later on. Oh no, no because I wasn’t enjoying it! Because I didn’t want the book to end. I was digesting it in small pieces, constantly mulling ideas and events over in my mind. Anderson does nothing if she doesn’t force you to think, really think about the American Revolutionary War. I frequently found myself torn between the British and the Colonists, for Isabel’s sake. I can honestly say I have never really sat down to consider the Revolutionary War. We grow up romanticizing the fight for independence and history books rarely qualify or quantify the people who were chained between the two sides, forced to choose and getting nothing in return. Wow!

Isabel’s voice rings true to the times, without being overwhelming. The book reads like a story set in 1776 without being dry or difficult to understand. In historical fiction that is extremely important. If kids feel overwhelmed by dialogue, accents, or vernacular it is that much harder to get them to read and enjoy the book.

What really makes me happy is how kid-friendly Chains is. I already promised my students that we would be using it as a read-aloud later in the year. As a teacher, I know it will push their thinking and I can already foresee the great conversations and debates we will have. But I also know that they will genuinely enjoy the book. Anderson has a gift- she makes history come alive and she makes it fun. Yet I still come away from her historical fiction books knowing more than I did going in. I know the same will be true for my students.

I am sure Chains will be at the top of many Newbery prediction lists and it is certainly on mine. However, it should also begin making its way into school reading lists. It seems like the same old books have been around since I was in elementary school. My Brother Sam Is Dead and Johnny Tremain are both great books but I think Chains is more historically-accurate and kid-friendly. In NJ, the Revolutionary War is taught in 5th grade and I feel like Chains is just that much more kid-friendly and accessible while preserving (and exceeding) historical accuracy needs. So I am starting up the chant, “Here, here! Chains for the curriculum!”